Each year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art brings an extravagant display of fashion through the Met Gala. Its 2015 theme “China: Through the Looking Glass” brought controversy with it. Originally titled “Chinese Whispers: Tales of the East in Art, Film, and Fashion,” the event intended to examine how “Westerners have understood and misunderstood Chinese culture.” Despite warning that the event could easily slip into cultural appropriation, Anna Wintour and Met curator Andrew Bolton continued with the theme in collaboration with the Met’s Asian Art Department.
The collective attire of attendees, as expected, was not a display of thoughtful reverence of Chinese culture. It instead resorted to Orientalism, which is a patronizing stereotypical representation of the East. While some sources gave a superficial review of the event, the press was mostly disappointed, pointing out the lack of Chinese designer representation and the use of popular motifs like vaguely Asian headdresses and chopsticks.
In a refreshing display of homage to Chinese culture, the award for best dressed at the 2015 Met Gala goes to Rihanna in an ensemble handmade by Chinese designer Guo Pei. The cape surrounding the dress, featuring fur trimmings and elaborate embroidery, took the spotlight with its extensive yellow train. The garment reportedly took 50,000 hours to make, which is typical of Pei’s designs. Pei works with several Chinese stars and has been profiled in Western media but is still relatively unknown in the Western fashion world. Pei said, “It is my responsibility to let the world know China’s tradition and past, and to give the splendor of China a new expression.” Rihanna stumbled upon the dress, which had already been made, by chance while looking up Chinese culture. She was praised as one of the few attendees dressed by a Chinese designer. We wouldn’t expect anything less from Queen Rih.
Beijing-born actress and long-time Stella McCartney fan Zhu Zhu donned a black and white McCartney dress for the event. She understandably decided to take her look in a modern and elegant direction: “ I didn’t want to stress the theme too much on my outfit, since I am already pretty ‘Chinese’ myself,” she said. “We are not China dolls from a film or a time travel machine.” McCartney delivered on the full-length, form-fitting dress Zhu Zhu wanted. The dress absolutely fits the theme (as contemporary China is definitely a thing, although it’s not referenced in the event or the exhibition), and it’s a beautifully classic look.
Lady Gaga, dressed in a custom black and cream kimono style dress for her debut Met Gala appearance, fell prey to Orientalism. Not only was the stereotypical imagery lazy, but it represented the wrong culture, as kimonos are traditional Japanese garments. The black feather and Swarovski crystal-accented dress was designed by Alexander Wang for Balenciaga. Wang and Gaga have very similar styles, so their first collaboration was inevitable. The piece itself was beautiful, but easily drifted into a sartorial faux pas.
The Met Gala as a whole is a glamorous experience that although citizens can’t attend, they can come together and discuss as an artistic event the same way they discuss the Grammys or Oscars. The Gala’s existence is testament to fashion being accepted as an art form, and the event is a great way of celebrating this while simultaneously raising money for the Met’s Costume Institute.
Who is selected each year makes a statement about what is most prominent in popular culture at the time. If regular citizens were able to attend the event, even for exorbitant prices, it would change the context of the event as an exclusive snapshot of prominent figures in entertainment that year. Allowing citizens to attend the event simply because they’re rich enough to buy a ticket and a designer dress would diminish its cultural value, and I don’t think it’s necessary.
Celebrity social media has definitely increased the visibility of the event, and therefore interest in it. In today’s social media-obsessed age, however, I think that it’s wise for Anna to continue to ban phones in the event to keep everyone in the moment. Photographers are there to capture it, so it’s not an extreme measure to ask everyone to put their phones away for a few hours. In the end, the public will still be able to see everyone’s looks from the evening.
I’m not terribly interested in the Met Gala beyond its existence as a concept, and usually only remember that it’s happened when the best and worst looks begin flowing through my social media timelines. While I do find fashion to be beautiful, I also note its superficiality and haven’t seen where the Gala has done enough to establish its tangible value in other aspects of society. With such a large platform, the Gala has the ability to highlight important issues but doesn’t make use of it. Even with this theme, they had the chance to create a beautiful celebration of another culture and highlight Eastern designers, and it fell short.
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